15 Reasons Why WCW Nitro Failed, American Gladiators!

[Outsiders]

In WWE's '15 Years of Raw' special magazine that was released on newsstands this past Tuesday, they put out a list on the top 15 reasons why WCW Monday Nitro failed. The Disco Inferno is the lone subject pictured in the feature. Here is the list:

 

15 Reasons Nitro Failed: Nothing compares to these shameful people and moments.

 

15. Tony Schiavone

14. nWo 2000

13. Anti-American Jim Duggan

12. Chavo Guerrero & Pepe

11. Vince Russo in the Pope Mobile

10. Matches in the Mall of America

09. Finger Poke of Doom (Kevin Nash drops to the mat to lose his title after Hulk Hogan pokes him on 1/4/99 Nitro)

08. The Magnificent Seven (2001 faction consisting of Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell and Road Warrior Animal)

07. "Crazy" Ric Flair

06. New Blood vs. The Millionaires

05. Steve "Mongo" McMichael

04. Disco Inferno (pictured)

03. One Warrior Nation (short-lived 1998 faction consisting of Ultimate Warrior and The Disciple a.k.a. Brutus Beefcake)

02. Misfits in Action (2000 faction consisting of Hugh Morrus, Lash LeRoux, The Wall, Chavo Guerrero, Booker T, Tylene "Major Gunns" Buck and Vam Hammer)

01. David Arquette

 

Damian Demento closed his YouTube account about two weeks ago because his page was consistently being spammed by bots leaving pornographics advertisements and/or messages on his user page. However, he has since opened up a new account at www.youtube.com/profile?user=aDementedOne. He later did a video rant on the spam infiltrating his old page, thinking they were coming from actual people, but they're actually coming from spambots. He closed the comments function on his new account and is posting videos again. He has posted about 10 videos on his new account, which you can check out at this link. Among the subjects he's ranting on in his new videos are people preserving his content from his old account, "perverts" spamming his old account, why Steroids are good for you, Bin Laden, and of course, Vince McMahon. His latest video, which was posted earlier today, is aimed at Vince McMahon. It's called, "VINCE, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?" He's still upset over WWE posting his picture up on their official website. He's also upset that WWE is going to be airing the first episode of Raw in January 1993 on WWE 24/7, which featured him in the main event with the Undertaker. He then rants on YouTube users defending him and people vandalizing his page on Wikipedia. Demento closes his video by vowing to McMahon that "this is going to be the year of revenge."

 

Former indy wrestling standout Reckless Youth is posting blogs at reckless2k2.wordpress.com.

 

American Gladiators will air again tonight in its regular timeslot at 8PM.

[JFAK075]

"Crazy" Ric Flair ruled.

[Blackmada]

I liked Pepe.

[Bandalero]

I resent the David Arquette entry coming in at #1. It's been well documented that David didn't want the title, he knew how stupid the whole idea was, but that cancerous cell Vince F'N RUSSO BASTARD forced him to do it for "shock" tv.

 

If you ask me Vince Russo should be #1 followed by nWo-overload where everyone and their grandmother was part of the A or B team.

 

These assholes killed my favourite wrestling federation - them and the ignorant suits in the office that knew nothing abou the biz

[boff123]

I resent the David Arquette entry coming in at #1. It's been well documented that David didn't want the title, he knew how stupid the whole idea was, but that cancerous cell Vince F'N RUSSO BASTARD forced him to do it for "shock" tv.

 

If you ask me Vince Russo should be #1 followed by nWo-overload where everyone and their grandmother was part of the A or B team.

 

These assholes killed my favourite wrestling federation - them and the ignorant suits in the office that knew nothing abou the biz

 

yup that sums it up. russo = douchebag and yes the nwo when it had the japanese guys in it, that was lame.

[GPM in ICT]

Lets me think, I liked: MIA (Major Guns!), NWO 2000 (loved the silver and black and the night Nash teased Scott Hall returning and it turned out to be Scott Steiner), and the New Blood vs Millionaires club (Damn if Jindark and O'Haire weren't a killer Tag Team and I liked Mike Sander mic work too).

[ARES-god_of_war]

Seeing that I watched WCW more than WWF, I'd have to agree that Russo killed Nitro! There should never be a reason for angles to feature the writer who penned it! Unless of course he's capable of doing double duty like Nash?!

 

Second would be the dilution of talent towards the end. I dig the push of young stars, but when they dominate the brand without a "A-List" tie-in it stalls the show.

 

Thirdly, the main events got way too repetitive! How many times did we have to sit through Goldberg vs. nWo? or How many times did we see the nWo swerve coming a mile away? Towards the end... it seemed like they were just phoning it in?

[Hordak Rules]

I don't like people pouring the blame on David Arquette either. Yeah, it wasn't the best idea in the world making him champion, but at least the guy went out there and entertained and put on a decent show. That's more then some entertainers that are hired to perform nowadays do. Looking at you Pacman Jones.

 

Blaming sole wrestlers like Disco and Mongo is pretty stupid too. Even Flair admitted he like Mongo. And their were worse people calling matches then Tony Schiavone.

 

The New Blood vs the Millionaire's Club were really interesting matches. It blurred together at the end, but that was WCW last really decent storyline.

[hamsterboy]

No,the top reason for why WCW failed should be Ted Turner. He was the guy spending the money to bring in the likes of Russo and Arquette. He was the one that sold the whole thing to Time Warner who then shut everything down.

[khamla]

WCW failed because they didn't have a Creative Structural Organization back there. Wrestlers would show up to work and not know what to do. The lack of direction, writing, and organization is what Killed WCW! Probably Bishoffs fault. But probably not mainly. It was a number of people.

[RobbieDigital]

I think Schiavone should be a little higher on that list.......probably my least favorite commentator...ever. I thought the matches in the Mall of America were pretty cool at least visually......but I guess it does make them look low-caliber to be performing in a mall??

 

Also, "Crow" Sting....I never really fully embraced that look for him....I think they should have went back to a modern-update to classic sting. It was the same crap every week.

 

 

nWo beats the crap out of someone.....and poses in front of the camera. Everyweek thats what it was.

[GPM in ICT]

IMO what really killed WCW was too many wrestlers having Creative Control of their characters. If two different wrestlers both had CC they wou would always get a screwy finish or the storyline would spin out of control. In any company you need to have one guy that tells everyone else what to do and that be that. I guess it came down to there being "Too many chefs in the kitchen".

[BeautifulDisaster]

Yeah, one guy needs to be in complete control and tell everyone what's what... like in WWE today with Triple H @supes@ "He's Super Trips!"

 

Honestly, I wasn't a WCW fan and it's pretty obvious. Upon reading this and what so many of you have said about the over-abundence of NWO, screwy finish after screwy finish, and Bischoff/Turner/Russo killing everything good about the promotion, I can't help but think ho glad I was not to have been watching this when it was on. I always kept up with results and would generally watch Saturday Night, things like that to keep an idea of what I was missing. But, Nitro never had anyting that appealed to me to turn it on over RAW.

 

In looking at the list and thinking on the topic, the list does have a lot of the right culprits for WCW demise. David Arquette as Champion killed the company's credibility... but the Finger Poke of Doom was far worse because it killed the title's credibility. The title is the important thing for the "marks" and WCW lost them long before they lost credibility in the eyes of the casual fans. That was what I thought was the number one reason for demise... the Finger Poke of Doom (with blame being thrown on everyone responcible for allowing it to go down).

[jmoney]

Lets me think, I liked: MIA (Major Guns!), NWO 2000 (loved the silver and black and the night Nash teased Scott Hall returning and it turned out to be Scott Steiner), and the New Blood vs Millionaires club (Damn if Jindark and O'Haire weren't a killer Tag Team and I liked Mike Sander mic work too).

 

I agree totally. What was that one line Sanders was always ending his promos on? Something like "I live on mean street. 3rd house on the left." Or even better "...then you'll be S.O.L. and we all know what that means" followed by forced laughter. Good stuff and Jindrak and O'Haire kicked ass. So did Sugar Shane Helms come to think of it. Vertibreaker will break your spine. Bertibreaker does the job every time.

 

15. Tony Schiavone

 

I never really had a problem with him. He's not the best commentator by a long shot but he's also not the worst.

 

14. nWo 2000

 

For us NWO marks, any NWO is better than no NWO

 

 

13. Anti-American Jim Duggan

 

Canadian Jim Duggan was actually interesting. Awwwww, now I miss Lance Storm too.

 

12. Chavo Guerrero & Pepe

 

Kiss my ass WWE. Chavo going crazy cause Eddie forced him to wear his shirts "Eddie Guerrero is my favorite wrestler" and riding around on a little wooden horse was some of his best work. Sure beats the whole Al Snow/Pepper and Big Boss Man angle.

 

11. Vince Russo in the Pope Mobile

 

OK I'll admit Vince needed someone to rein him in from time to time.

 

10. Matches in the Mall of America

 

Either this was before my time watching WCW or I've forgotten it completely.

 

09. Finger Poke of Doom (Kevin Nash drops to the mat to lose his title after Hulk Hogan pokes him on 1/4/99 Nitro)

 

Kiss my ass again WWE. I cheered so hard that night my throat is still sore. That was B E A UTIFUL

 

08. The Magnificent Seven (2001 faction consisting of Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell and Road Warrior Animal)

 

I agree with what was said earlier, you need someone in charge not a bunch of someones

 

07. "Crazy" Ric Flair

 

When is Flair not a little crazy?

 

06. New Blood vs. The Millionaires

 

Best storyline in a while when they started it up. Hogan wearing the FUNB shirt was priceless

 

05. Steve "Mongo" McMichael

 

I never had any strong feelings about him one way or the other.

 

04. Disco Inferno (pictured)

 

My brother met him once. Real cool guy and much bigger in person than he appeared on TV. Cool gimmick in my opinion.

 

03. One Warrior Nation (short-lived 1998 faction consisting of Ultimate Warrior and The Disciple a.k.a. Brutus Beefcake)

 

OK this one was kinda crap.

 

02. Misfits in Action (2000 faction consisting of Hugh Morrus, Lash LeRoux, The Wall, Chavo Guerrero, Booker T, Tylene "Major Gunns" Buck and Vam Hammer)

 

A fun faction with plenty of talent, quit hating WWE

 

01. David Arquette

 

Oh get over that already, Vince has been ECW champ too so quit throwing stones.

[GPM in ICT]

Yeah, one guy needs to be in complete control and tell everyone what's what... like in WWE today with Triple H @supes@ "He's Super Trips!"

 

Not exactly what I meant, but your somewhat right. But WCW gave CC to: Nash, Hogan, Flair, DDP, Sting, Big Poppa Pump, Goldberg, Bagwell, and several others. So when someone had to do the job the whined about it and you gotr a screwball finish (way to often). That's why it's nice to have one guy in control to say "hey your losing the match". It's not like wins and losses matter in wrestling.

[HellHound]

Just imagine all of the things that would be on that list if WCW would have actually put WWF/E outta business & it was the top so-many reasons why THEY failed.

[Hordak Rules]

Yeah, WWE has had plenty of poor storylines too:

 

- Big Show/Bossman dead father story

- Perry Saturn & Moppy

- Kane/Katie Vick storyline

- Mr. McMahon's death!

[BeautifulDisaster]

I may be the only person who loved it... but, I don't get why people crack on Bossman/Big Show's dead dad storyline. That was great! I loved seeing Bossman, in what appeared to be a car fresh from a Blues Brothers fan convention, drive off dragging Big Show's daddy while Big Show bodysurfed on the coffin.

 

That was certainly better than WCW's fabulous "The Giant falls off the arena after monster truck sumo match then returns to compete in the main event" moment. They should have never made it to an NWO high because crap like that, The Dungeon of Doom, and The Yeti should have bankrupted that company long before the NWO made it important.

 

What's really funny is how, if a real list was made with everything that was crappy in wrestling (and probably resulted in someone being fired or a promotion going out of business), they would have to make a whole website about it... www.wrestlecrap.com. It's Crap-tastic!

[HellHound]

Yeah , wrestlecrap has a ton of stupid things wrestling companies have done over the years . I agree with a lot of them being listed , but some I actually liked .

[hamsterboy]

Let's compare,shall we?

 

15.I'll take Schiavone over Lawler any day of the week.

 

14.NWO 2000. How was this any worse the their version?

 

13.Anti-American Jim Duggan. How was this worse than Anti-American Slaughter?

 

12.Chavo & Pepe. How was that worse than Al Snow and Pierre? I mean a deer head as hard core champ?

 

11.Vince Russo and the Popemobile. I'll give them this one.

 

10.Matches in Mall of America. They did that what? Once when they first started? Big deal. Give the WWE time. They'll do something just as lame.

 

09.Finger Poke of Doom. Come on. Is this really any worse when they just handed the belt to Triple H? At least Nash was in the ring with Hogan.

 

08.The Magnificent Seven. WWE hasn't done anything like this.Yet.

 

07."Crazy" Rick Flair. How many times has Vince gone "crazy"?

 

06.New Blood vs. Millionaires. See #8.

 

05. Steve "Mongo" McMichael. This one I don't understand. Are they talking about him being an announcer or when he wrestled? Again,no worse than with Lawler. Couldn't have been that bad. Austin would up with his ex.

 

04.Disco Inferno. I have to wonder if he didn't go to WCW,would he have wound up in WWF considering his little "feud" with Johnny(Raven)Polo on the radio show WWF use to have?

 

03.One Warrior Nation. No worse than Goldberg's short stint with Raw.

 

02.Misfits In Action. WWF use to have it's own little "misfits" faction with Luna Vachon. Don't see what's different.

 

01.David Arquette. How was that worse than Chyna being IC champ? Or Vince being ECW champ or Stephanie being Women's champ? Or heaven forbid if he actually won it,Kevin Federline?

[ARES-god_of_war]

Let's compare,shall we?

 

15.I'll take Schiavone over Lawler any day of the week.

 

14.NWO 2000. How was this any worse the their version?

 

13.Anti-American Jim Duggan. How was this worse than Anti-American Slaughter?

 

12.Chavo & Pepe. How was that worse than Al Snow and Pierre? I mean a deer head as hard core champ?

 

11.Vince Russo and the Popemobile. I'll give them this one.

 

10.Matches in Mall of America. They did that what? Once when they first started? Big deal. Give the WWE time. They'll do something just as lame.

 

09.Finger Poke of Doom. Come on. Is this really any worse when they just handed the belt to Triple H? At least Nash was in the ring with Hogan.

 

08.The Magnificent Seven. WWE hasn't done anything like this.Yet.

 

07."Crazy" Rick Flair. How many times has Vince gone "crazy"?

 

06.New Blood vs. Millionaires. See #8.

 

05. Steve "Mongo" McMichael. This one I don't understand. Are they talking about him being an announcer or when he wrestled? Again,no worse than with Lawler. Couldn't have been that bad. Austin would up with his ex.

 

04.Disco Inferno. I have to wonder if he didn't go to WCW,would he have wound up in WWF considering his little "feud" with Johnny(Raven)Polo on the radio show WWF use to have?

 

03.One Warrior Nation. No worse than Goldberg's short stint with Raw.

 

02.Misfits In Action. WWF use to have it's own little "misfits" faction with Luna Vachon. Don't see what's different.

 

01.David Arquette. How was that worse than Chyna being IC champ? Or Vince being ECW champ or Stephanie being Women's champ? Or heaven forbid if he actually won it,Kevin Federline?

 

I'll give you a one word answer that'll sum everything up for you; Longevity! WWF/WWE has become a brand in and of itself. After a decade or so of being the only show in town, WCW showed up and gave people a choice. Not only did they feature most of the names formerly associated with WWF (hmmm, sounds familiar?) But the organization of Nitro and Thunder and other sub-broadcasts showed everything in a different light. Not so much talking in the ring, and no Vince McMahon! But, the WWF/WWE has been around, which means while others try to contend, they just make revisions and resume their role at the top.